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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26821018">Before I Met You</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/BloodFrost/pseuds/BloodFrost'>BloodFrost</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Naruto, Naruto (Anime) RPF</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Gay Male Character, Love, Love Confessions, M/M, Out of Character, Romantic Fluff, SasoDei - Freeform, Short &amp; Sweet</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 10:13:54</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,023</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26821018</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/BloodFrost/pseuds/BloodFrost</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>One glimpse of Sasori’s “real” self is enough to plummet the explosive Deidara head-over-heels in love with the Puppet Master. But Sasori isn’t exactly reciprocating of the young blonde’s feelings —</p><p>— or IS he?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Deidara/Sasori (Naruto)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>46</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Before I Met You</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Mold all you want, but I swear if you set any of those off in here, I’ll be re-joining the Akatsuki sans one annoying partner.”</p><p>“Seriously?”</p><p>“I’ve got a headache. Explosions will just make it worse.”</p><p>“I thought you couldn’t get headaches, puppet-man.”</p><p>“Neither did I; but that was before I met YOU, Deidara.”</p><p>“Hey, we have all this free time on our hands. You know what might be fun to do?”</p><p>“Sit quietly in opposite corners until the rain lets up?”, Sasori responded, in a deadpan voice.</p><p>“That’s an option; but how about we try something else? How about, we sit together? Or, you let me sit in your lap, and we talk a while? REALLY get to know each other?”</p><p>Sasori shook his head, before growling, “You’re absolutely shameless, you know that?”</p><p>Deidara shrugged and went back to his sculpting. “You can’t blame a boy for trying.”</p><p>“Yes I can. You’re impossible to deal with.”</p><p>It was a late afternoon in April, and Akatsuki members Sasori and Deidara had been stuck on their way back from a mission when they got caught in a sudden downpour. They had been lucky that there was a shallow cave not too far from the path, and it was here that they were taking shelter.</p><p>Deidara pulled another lump of clay from his inner pocket, and began to knead it. “I’M impossible? I’m doing everything I can to make it work between us, but you reject every attempt I make. YOU’RE the impossible one, Danna.”</p><p>“Make <em>what</em> work between us? There isn’t ANYTHING between us, brat. There never was, and there never will be. Understood?”</p><p>Deidara just sighed and shook his head. “Itachi was right; I should have waited to tell you, until you’d be more receptive to hearing it. I guess it sure was stupid of me to fall in love with such a stubborn man. And stop calling me ‘brat’; I’m not some child!”</p><p>“Itachi? You talked to ITACHI about this? I thought you hated him!”</p><p>“I do, but I’ve got to admit; the man gives sound advice. That’s the thing with those quiet, gloomy types like Itachi; they’re always sitting back and watching everything around them unfold. So they figure out how to solve problems before you even realize you’ve got one. And me being in love with a cold bastard like you sure is a problem.”</p><p>“You idiot, you’re NOT in love with me!”</p><p>“No? Then why does my heart beat nearly out of my chest every time I’m within 2 feet of you?”</p><p>“Clearly you’re having an allergic reaction to the poisons I keep in my cloak. I’ll try and design less permeable bottles for them, so they don’t bother you as much. Okay?”</p><p>“So you’re finally willing to show even the tiniest bit of consideration for me, eh? I suppose that’s an improvement for you, as a boyfriend.”</p><p>“Oh, fuck off, Deidara!”, Sasori fumed, clenching his fists inside Hiroku. “Are you trying to piss me off? Do you WANT me to kill you??”</p><p>“Oh, go ahead,” Deidara replied, in a tired-sounding voice. “Being a corpse has gotta be better than being alive and being rejected by your soulmate.”</p><p>Sasori shook his head, but didn’t say anything. What could he say? After all, Deidara’s attachment to him was mostly Sasori’s own fault.</p><p>Several months ago, at that older hideout, Pein and Konan has gone on a mission, leaving the rest of the Akatsuki members to their own devices for nearly a week.</p><p>Hidan had taken advantage of the lack of supervision by going out and procuring bottles of beer and sake, which he passed around to his fellow teammates.</p><p>“It’s been a while since I’ve had a stiff drink,” Kisame had commented, his feet propped up on a chair.</p><p>Itachi had nodded, but he wasn’t really drinking himself. Itachi never seemed to be able to just let loose and relax, even in the most lax of circumstances.</p><p>Deidara, however —</p><p>“Gimme ‘nother one, man,” he had demanded from Hidan, already slurring his words.</p><p>“The kid can’t hold his liquor,” Kakuzu had commented, shaking his head.</p><p>Sasori had shaken his head as well. Well, Hiroku’s head. He never came outside of his puppet armor, except in his own room. None of the others, save Pein, had ever seen his true form. “Deidara, should you even be drinking? Aren’t you only 19?”</p><p>“Really?”, Hidan had scoffed, taking another swig of his beer. “We’re S-rank criminals, man! We’re wanted for all kinds of great and horrible fucking things; but you’re worried because blondie is underaged and drinking??”</p><p>Sasori had just sighed. If it were at all possible, he would have killed Hidan months ago. The man seemed like much more of a liability than an asset.</p><p>Sasori, having no need for food or drink himself, had retired to his room, to work on more of his puppet bodies. Around midnight, he had heard a loud thump outside of his door, and, forgetting that he wasn’t inside Hiroku, had opened it to find Deidara outside, laughing and crawling towards his own room.</p><p>“Oi; I knew letting you drink was a stupid idea,” Sasori muttered. He bent over and hoisted Deidara up by the arm, before dragging him down the hall.</p><p>“Who the hell are you?!”, he’d slurred, pushing away from Sasori.</p><p>“It’s Sasori. Idiot.”</p><p>They were in the room now, and Sasori hoisted Deidara into his bed, grunting a bit. “Calm down and go to sleep, okay?”</p><p>Deidara’s eyes had gone as wide as the moon, and he’d said, in a shaky voice,</p><p>“Sasori? MASTER Sasori??”</p><p>“Yes, Deidara. Go to bed.”</p><p>“Oh my Goddddd! Your face! You’re so <em>cute</em>!”</p><p>If Sasori could have blushed, he would have. As it was, at the time he had just scoffed and said, gruffly, “Now I know you’re drunk. So sleep, alright?”</p><p>“Danna ... you’re really hot. Seriously hot. We should ... we should date. We should —“ Deidara had slurred, before finally passing out.</p><p>Sasori had gone back to his room, not allowing himself to give much thought to Deidara’s words. Alcohol could be a funny thing, and he had no doubt that it was simply the liquor that had the man saying such nonsense. And also ... Deidara may have had some extremely feminine characteristics, but he was still 100% a male. And given that, while sober, he had never expressed any kind of interest in other males before, Sasori or otherwise — again, alcohol was a funny thing.</p><p>The next morning, all had seemed as normal. Deidara was quiet (hung-over), and didn’t so much as look in Sasori’s direction while they all sat at the table for breakfast.</p><p>After, Sasori was heading back to his room to work more on his projects, but before he’d even begun to make headway on one, a knock had come to his door.</p><p>“Yes?”</p><p>Deidara had entered, looking uncharacteristically shy and timid. “Hey. Can we talk for a few minutes?”</p><p>“Sure.”</p><p>Deidara leaned against the edge of Sasori’s desk, arms folded in front of him.</p><p>“Can I ask you something?”</p><p>“You’re already here, you’re interrupting my work; you may as well.”</p><p>“Okay, um, why do you keep yourself in that thing?”</p><p>Sasori was taken by surprise, at the question.</p><p>“Why do you care?”</p><p>“I ... I don’t. I mean, you’re kind of ...”</p><p>“Kind of —?”</p><p>Deidara gulped, and wiped a bead of sweat from his temple.</p><p>“Me and you have been partners for over a year, Danna. But last night ... last night was the first time I ever saw your face and —“</p><p>“Look, Deidara; if all you’re going to do is stand there and incoherently mumble about nothing, then ...”</p><p>“I think we should date!”, Deidara blurted out, his face red.</p><p>“WHAT??”</p><p>“Danna, even before I saw your face, I’ve had some feelings for you. I think about —“</p><p>But Sasori (in Hiroku) had interrupted Deidara by grabbing his arm with his metal tail, and all but throwing him out the door.</p><p>“Get out of here and come back when you’re sober, you crazy kid.”</p><p>And that should have been the end of it ... but it wasn’t.</p><p>Every day after that, Deidara would try and talk to him. And he wasn’t at all discreet, daring to try and talk to Sasori around other people. Hidan, of course, never let Sasori hear the end of it, making perverted sexual jokes about him and Deidara every time he saw the two of them together.</p><p>Just that morning, seeing them leave for the mission, Hidan had said, “Hey, Master Sasori ... is today finally gonna be the day that YOU make HIM see an explosion?”</p><p>“Shut up, Hidan,” Kakuzu had growled at him, roughly smacking the back of his head.</p><p>But Sasori was just at a loss, for what to do. He sat near the entrance of the cave, watching Deidara form little birds with his fingers. How to discourage him?</p><p>“You know, earlier today —“</p><p>“Yeah?”</p><p>“When we stopped at the dango shop. Do you remember the table of women sitting in the corner?”</p><p>“Not really. Why? Were they a threat or something?”</p><p>“No. But ... surely you noticed the way they were all staring at you?”</p><p>Deidara’s eyes widened, and he let out a chuckle. “Good. They must have seen the statue I was carrying, and they were impressed. That’s nice; it’s good to have your art appreciated, after all.”</p><p>“It had nothing to do with your stupid little statue, Deidara. Are you really that blind? They were looking at YOU. Their eyes were following you all around the room.”</p><p>He had said this, in a way, to try and make Deidara realize that he had <em>options</em>. That his silly, childish infatuation with Sasori didn’t have to be the only thing he held on to, in terms of possible romance. After all, the Akatsuki couldn’t very well last forever. One day, they would be free again to pursue whatever they chose. Deidara deserved to go out there and find somebody that wasn’t so stiff and set in their ways, the way Sasori was. Deidara had the right to children, and that was something Sasori couldn’t give him even if he hadn’t been a puppet. Deidara deserved somebody that he could grow old with, not somebody who was already nearly twice his age, and frozen into the same un-aging, un-<em>changing</em> body for all of eternity.</p><p>But Deidara stubbornly refused to let go of his position.</p><p>“Flattering of you to notice, Danna, but there’s no need for you to be jealous. I’m taken, after all. I’m yours.”</p><p>“What are you saying? No you’re not! I don’t even <em>like</em> you, Deidara!”</p><p>Deidara just shook his head and went back to molding his clay. “No, you don’t ‘like’ me, you LOVE me. Same way that I love you. You just don’t want to admit it.”</p><p>“You’re nothing but an immature brat,” Sasori told him angrily. “You’re a thousand years too young to be talking like you know what love is.”</p><p>“But I DO know what love is,” Deidara insisted. He set his sculpture down and stood up, stepping closer to Sasori. “Show me your face, you coward. Come out of that thing so I can prove it to you.”</p><p>A pause, and then Sasori opened the hatch that allowed him to exit Hiruko. He hated this; he felt weak and vulnerable in his own body. He didn’t like anybody to SEE him, to really see him, for a variety of reasons.</p><p>But Deidara seemed to notice none of that. Instead, he stepped forward, grabbed hold of Sasori’s face, and kissed him. His lips were hesitant and afraid, and Sasori had to wonder whether this was just nerves ... or whether this was the man’s first kiss, <em>ever</em>.</p><p>But still ... as sloppy as it was, as clumsy and inexperienced — feeling Deidara’s lips on his had created a warm tidal wave where Sasori’s heart had been, spreading through his entire body like a fire.</p><p>“As expected,” Sasori said once Deidara had let go, shaking his head. “You say you’re in love with me, but you don’t even know how to <em>kiss</em> me properly? Tch.”</p><p>Before Deidara could protest, Sasori took him into his arms, tilted his head back, and attacked him with his lips. Sasori’s kiss was deep (world’s deeper than Deidara’s timid kiss had been) and intense. Deidara’s expression went blank; he didn’t move, and it barely even seemed like he was <em>breathing</em>. Unbeknownst to Sasori, the physical pleasure of what the redhead was doing shot through Deidara’s body like lightning, the shockwaves of which made the blonde’s extremities go completely numb. Right before Deidara thought he would faint, however, Sasori released him, and Deidara dropped to his knees, panting.</p><p>“<strong>That’s</strong> how you kiss somebody that you love, idiot,” Sasori told him, looking down on him with that devilish smirk.</p><p>“D-danna,” Deidara managed to get out, in-between gasps, “Why — w-why did you —“</p><p>To Deidara’s eternal surprise (and delight), Sasori knelt down beside him, and enclosed him, gently, in both arms.</p><p>“And this is how you show affection to somebody that you love,” Sasori murmured into Deidara’s ear, as he squeezed him. “Deidara, as much as it pains me to confess, I — I love you, as well. I think that I have for quite some time, now.”</p><p>“R-really?!”</p><p>“Mm,” Sasori said, nodding. He released Deidara and pulled back, so that he could see his face. Finding that he felt uncomfortable to not be touching Deidara in some way, he reached out and took hold of his hands, cradling them. “But there’s going to be so many problems with this, if we decide to truly be together. I’m sure even you can see that.”</p><p>Deidara nodded. “I know. I’ve thought about this, many times. Our age difference, our responsibilities to the Akatsuki, your completely incorrect and irrational view of what true art is —“</p><p>Sasori rolled his eyes. “Are you sure you don’t have that last part backwards?”</p><p>“ — but no matter what’s wrong with the situation, I can only focus on the rights. I love you. I enjoy your company. You make me <em>feel</em> more and <strong>want</strong> more than anyone ever has before. Even when we’re fighting, even when I want to strangle you — I can’t picture my life without you in it. And if all of that is wrong, then, well, I don’t give a damn. You can say I’m being a selfish brat, and maybe I AM one, but the point of the matter is that I want you to be my mine, and only mine. Alright?”</p><p>Sasori had been physically unable to produce tears for more years than he could count, now. But after what Deidara had said to him, well; Sasori would have flooded the cave and drowned them both. A perfect contrast, perhaps; the rain outside had finally stopped.</p><p>“You talk a lot,” Sasori said gruffly, standing up. He took the summoning scroll out of his back pocket and put Hiruko away, then held out his hand to Deidara. “But if we belong to each other now, I guess this is something I’ll have to get used to, eh?”</p><p>Deidara smiled and got to his feet, brushing off his clothes before taking Sasori’s hand. “The same way I’ll have to get used to your creepy puppet bodies all over our bedroom?”</p><p>They had reached the entry of the cave now, and they walked out to start on the path towards home. The sun was setting in the west, it’s rays illuminating Deidara’s gorgeous golden tresses.</p><p>“Two things about that. One, my puppets are sublime creations. Masterful accomplishments of creativity, practicality, and true artistic vision. NOT ‘creepy’. And two, what do you mean OUR bedroom?”</p><p>“Well, obviously, I’m moving into your room with you, Danna.”</p><p>“How is that obvious? Don’t just decide things for yourself!”</p><p>“I’ll have to move my bed in, though. I know <em>you</em> don’t sleep but that doesn’t mean I have to be up all night with you. It takes a lot of rest to look THIS beautiful, you know.”</p><p>“But —“</p><p>“Also we need to have a talk about your habits. I’ve seen your room, Danna, and you can get downright sloppy at times. Especially when you’re distracted working on a new puppet. But you’re thirty-five, and really, at your age there should be no excuse for being <em>that</em> slovenly. Well, don’t worry, I’ll help you work on it. And also —“</p><p>Deidara went on and on, talking nearly the entire length of their journey. Yet despite his misgivings, Sasori couldn’t help but smile, at the man’s charming enthusiasm. He found himself squeezing Deidara’s hand even tighter. He wondered what the others would think, when they told them that they were together.</p><p>But, really, no matter what anybody else thought, Sasori found Deidara’s words from earlier to be true:</p><p>“I don’t give a damn,” he murmured, softly.</p><p>“You don’t give a damn about adding a table for my clay?!”, Deidara asked, thinking that Sasori was responding to the last thing he’d said. “You really are a selfish bast—“</p><p>Sasori leaned up and kissed Deidara’s lips, stopping his protest in his tracks.</p><p>“Love you,” Sasori said to the now-blushing Deidara. “I’ll build you the finest table ever, first thing tomorrow. Only now let’s get home and get that bed of yours into our room. With your permission, and if you’re ready ... there’s something I want to try.”</p><p>If Deidara’s face had been red <em>before</em>, NOW it was a veritable fire, competing with the very sun itself. “S-something you want to try? Like what?”</p><p>“Let’s just say ... I’m not as ‘puppet’ as you think. There’s several parts of me that are very, VERY much human. So, if you think you’re ready, there’s a few things I’d like to try with —“</p><p>This time Deidara interrupted HIM with a kiss, and Sasori smiled against his lips; this one was MUCH better than the first one he’d attempted. Almost scarily so. Deidara was a fast learner.</p><p>“A true artist is <em>always</em> ready to create a masterpiece,” Deidara told him; and before Sasori could object he found himself being lifted into Deidara’s arms, as the latter took off running for home.</p>
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